A look at which players are likely to be getting the closest look as rookie camp opens today

As I type this, rookies and prospects are lining up at Sharks Ice this morning for the required medicals and physical testing before taking the ice at 2 p.m. today for the initial practice of an abbreviated rookie camp.

To me, the most interesting story in rookie camp this year is Nick Petrecki and that’s the one I plan to be writing for tomorrow’s print edition.

For one thing, he’s the lone first-round pick (28th overall in 2007) among the players reporting. For another, after a pair of very promising seasons at Boston College, things didn’t go so well at Worcester in Petrecki’s first as a pro. Things reached the point he was a healthy scratch in the post-season, but he sounds confident now, ready to treat that episode as a learning experience and move forward.

“It was a tough year,” Petrecki said, “but at the same time, I’d rather have that in Year 1 than in Year 3.”

In college, the 6-foot-3, 230-pound Petrecki could dominate as a bruiser who got the puck out of his own zone; at Worcester, that wasn’t the case. Ask him where he needs to get better and Petrecki talks about decision making and consistency.

From the coaching staff and front office perspective, Petrecki is one of a handful of defensemen with a chance to end up staying in San Jose as Jason Demers did a year ago. Some of the names are familiar by now — Derek Joslin and Mike Moore, for example — and some of them are newcomers such as Justin Braun (a seventh-round pick in that 2007 draft) as well as Matt Irwin and Nick Schaus, two college free agents signed last summer.

Among the forwards expected to get to a long look there’s also a mix of familiar and new names.

Benn Ferriero played 24 games in San Jose last season and John McCarthy was up for four. Brandon Mashinter is expected to battle with Frazer McLaren to replace Jody Shelley as the resident tough guy once the regular season begins.

Newcomers include Tommy Wingels, a sixth-round pick in 2008 who turned pro after three seasons with the Miami Redhawks in the CCHA, and Cameron Macintyre of Princeton, a 24-year-old power forward considered the prize college free agent signing from last spring.

Sharks Coach Todd McLellan is reluctant to single out individuals for special mention, though he will talk in generalties about the coaching staff’s focus.

“There’s nothing worse than a coach talking about individuals before training camp. Too many players read into it,” he said. “But there are some players that we signed out of college last year that are turning pro that we think are going to be very good prospects.

“Are they ready to play at the NHL level?,” McLellan continued. “I can’t answer that right now. I like to think they’re close and they can compete. They may need some time to grow and season down there.”

If you’re interested in going to check things out yourself, there are only three full-scale rookie practices at Sharks Ice — today at 2 p.m., Saturday at noon and Sunday at 10:30 a.m. — before prospects and coaches fly up to Penticton, B.C. for an eight-game tournament against their counterparts from Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Anaheim.

The Sharks play three times, facing Anaheim at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, the Canucks at 7:30 p.m. on Monday and the Oilers at 7:30 p.m. That last game also will feature Taylor Hall, taken first overall in this summer’s draft by Edmonton.

Vancouver is the tournament host and, according to the Canucks web site, all games will be streamed live at canucks.com.

San Jose’s tournament roster, by the way, is posted at:

http://sharks.nhl.com/v2/ext/PDF/2010-11_Rookies_Roster_PDF.pdf

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.